I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to data transmission systems which utilize fiber optic cables. More particularly the invention is concerned with transmission systems which pass data between electronic equipment within an office building.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The use of fiber optic cables in data transmission applications has several well known advantages. The main advantages are the speed of data transmission and the amount of data which can be sent through a relatively small fiber. Thus, a relatively large copper cable can be replaced by a fiber cable which has a much smaller diameter.
The office environment has experienced a dramatic increase in employee work stations which contain data transmitting and receiving equipment. Such equipment includes word processors, printers, monitors, copiers, etc. It has become desirable to connect these remote units to each other and to central core pieces of equipment such as computers. In the past the amount of such equipment which can be hooked together in an office building network has been limited by the amount of copper wire which can be placed in the floor and wall conduits.
Fiber optic cables have been employed in office applications to transmit data from one point to another. They have not been used to form a network similar to those possible with copper wire systems. That is, the fiber optic cables are normally run specifically from one piece of equipment to a second piece of equipment. This is compared to copper wire cables that can be connected to other cables through terminal boxes that allow distribution of data throughout a network of equipment. By changing the wire connections in the terminal box the routing of data from a work station can be changed.
Fiber optic cables have not been used in networking applications due to the problems associated with coupling such cables. Traditionally these cables have been adhesively bonded together. Although there are available nonadhesive couplers, they have not been used for networking applications but only as a means for connecting computer equipment to optic fiber cables.
The present invention is advantageous in that it allows the use of fiber optic cables in data transmission networks that have the same flexibility as copper wire networks. The invention is further advantageous in that it allows the use of floor junction boxes, terminal boxes, distributing frames and path cores in fiber optic networks. Another advantage of the invention is that the networks can be installed and maintained without highly skilled technicians. Further advantages include: relatively low cost, superior system reliability, and high versatility and growth potential.